Macguiver and I were BSing about our favorite moments and we thought you guys would get a kick out of them. I have to run out and change 3 sets of tires right now but I'll be back shortly to mention my escapades.

for now

The springs from a ball point pen make excellent spring replacements for most handlebar control switches and throttle tube retrievers.

Paracord works great as a clutch pull when your clutch cables goes.

zip ties hold the rods in a rod shifted car just long enough to get you up to speed....before melting again

soda caps filled with that rubber stuff for tool handles make great makeshift shifter bushing for your Shelby turbo car.

The potassium in a potato can seal small hairline cracks for a short length of time. cracked hoses, e.t.c. I wouldn't use it for any high stress area though but it's one of those things thats good to know just in case.

Dead battery? no one around? have tylenol? crush it and put sprinkle it on your positive battery terminal, drip some coke on it and let it fizzle. wait 60 seconds. Start the bike (I have to double check if it was actually tylenol or some other common pill but I have heard it a few times but never tried it myself) Same for certain wines.

Need to break in your clutch\flywheel in a hurry? coke! (not pepsi or was it the other way around?) Picked up this tidbit when I had to change a clutch in the staging lanes at Michigan speedway about 10 years ago, I think that was a world record time clutch swap on a roasting hot turbo motor.

Dead battery? no one around? have tylenol? crush it and put sprinkle it on your positive battery terminal, drip some coke on it and let it fizzle. wait 60 seconds. Start the bike (I have to double check if it was actually tylenol or some other common pill but I have heard it a few times but never tried it myself) Same for certain wines.

Need to break in your clutch\flywheel in a hurry? coke! (not pepsi or was it the other way around?) Picked up this tidbit when I had to change a clutch in the staging lanes at Michigan speedway about 10 years ago, I think that was a world record time clutch swap on a roasting hot turbo motor.

The first one wouldnt do anything, doesnt even make sense really. Cleaning the terminal(s) on a dead battery wouldnt really do anything, besides asprin is an acid, so is battery electrolyte :shrug

Second one, i dunno, contaminating a clutch disk is what it sounds like but i've never heard of that so im not sure exactly what it does.

Other tips are awesome though

I rebuilt the fuel pump on my beetle once, i drove about 10 miles away and it ran out of gas. Turns out i forgot the e clips that held the fuel pump rocker arm pivot in. I took two pennies and placed them on either side of the pivot for bearings, and wrapped electrical tape around the whole assembly to keep them in place. I then drove all the way back to the shop to install the e-clips i keep those pennies ontop of my shelf to remind me.

I put a chain on my minibike when i was younger, i then rode it about 2 miles away from home when the chain came off, turns out i forgot the masterlink clip (can you see a pattern here?). I found a piece of stranded copper wire holding my distant neighbours mailbox lid closed so i ganked it and stripped a wire out of it, and used that to tie off the posts on the masterlink until i god home

Was doing some backwoods trail riding wth a couple friends, had my CR500, a Suzuki DR400 and a big KTM mxc, 540? older one. The Katoom stopped running but would start on choke for the brief second before the choke dropped down. Pulled up the choke shaft and crimped a penny around it with mah trusty Gerber pliers. KTM friend had run off with the Zook to find a bit of help, I mounted up the CR and my other friend was willing to try the Katoom, after a bit of accidental wheelie practice we made it back to camp, the ranger fully impressed with the hack and was fetching a strap to surmount a rescue witht the parks ATV.

Seems the slider was worn, wiggled and the main jet needle had snapped but the vac would suck it up at higher revs.

Second one, i dunno, contaminating a clutch disk is what it sounds like but i've never heard of that so im not sure exactly what it does.

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clutch lasted a dozen or so runs down a drag strip running 22lbs of boost, a dozen laps around Michigan speedway @ 150mph (give or take) and a road trip back to NY, oh and about 40k more miles. Guess it worked just fine.

red wine is a good alternative to battery acid...in case your bike is dead while your on a picnic.

Here's one from today, if you've ever had to work on a fully faired bike you know its a bitch to do even the simplest of repairs. Anyway after removing half the parts from the front end just to replace a 6" hose I replaced it and put it all back together. Only I forgot to plug the rad fan back in.....I had to once again remove the oil cooler, reservoir, radiator, radiator support brackets and some other crap just so I could get to it. but before all of this I had to drain the coolant again.

I cleaned the newest oil catch can I had as best I could so that the coolant I just put in wouldn't go to waste. Then I cut up an old t shirt and made a filter for the oil can and poured the coolant into a clean soda bottle. I used another piece of shirt on the bottle and poured nice clean antifreeze back into the bike.

in retrospect I would probably have had an easier time pouring using a couple of coffee filters instead. Pouring through fabric is slow and I had to squeeze the hell out of the bottle to get it to come out.

Dead battery? no one around? have tylenol? crush it and put sprinkle it on your positive battery terminal, drip some coke on it and let it fizzle. wait 60 seconds. Start the bike (I have to double check if it was actually tylenol or some other common pill but I have heard it a few times but never tried it myself) Same for certain wines.

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sounds like you're combing and mixing the tricks of adding crushed aspirin to the battery electrolyte to boost it, and using coke to remove rust from metal.

i've never tried the asprin IN the battery trick, but i've heard it works from some people who have tried it.

The engine bolts on a Tonti or Loop Guzzi are the same threads as the crankshaft. With the right stack of washers and a length of PVC, the bolt, plus the input hub, makes a dandy clutch pressure plate compressor.

If you're trying to get adhesive, caulk, or silicone into a tight spot where you can't reach with the tube of stuff, squeeze the amount you need into a soda straw, then get the straw into the position where you need it, and squeeze the straw, pushing the adhesive out where you need it.

Example: I needed to get some silicone sealant into a long, narrow [1" wide] sleeve of weatherproof fabric. Solution: squeeze a generous amount of sealant into a straw, insert straw into position in the sleeve, squeeze sealant out in the appropriate place, then pull out the straw. Simple.

I crashed...and my TT fairing guards crushed my ignition coil and destroyed the white ceramic/porcelain/whatever around the spark plug. Bike was misfiring...electrical arcing. I was with a "Macgyver" who pulled out some stainless safety wire, twisted it on top of the remains of the spark plug, and connected it up into the remains of the ignition coil. Got a good electrical connection, zipped tied it up on and we rode on...:eek1

Of course, I didn't ride like this for long...and I replaced all said parts appropriately...

the biggest thing I learned was bring the right stuff along and don't panic...there is a solution in that toolbag somewhere.

head it enough times, saw a few videos of it too. I have a bunch of spare batteries and enough red wine to go around, I'll try it myself.

Inane Cathode said:

MacGyver tip: Using a zip tie as a hose clamp.

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great idea...as long as it isn't a pressurised hose or anywhere near a part of the engine that would get hot enough to melt.

Inane Cathode said:

Not a macgyver tip: Changing your summer air for fall air when the season rolls around.

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fixer said:

sounds like you're combing and mixing the tricks of adding crushed aspirin to the battery electrolyte to boost it, and using coke to remove rust from metal.

i've never tried the asprin IN the battery trick, but i've heard it works from some people who have tried it.

highly skeptical that coke or wine on the terminal will do anything.

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I'm not sure which it is, I know the wine trick has to be poured INTO the battery. As for the asprin or tylenol I'm not sure if it goes into the electrolyte tubes or is crushed and sprinkled on the terminal itself. since you say coke removes rust I would assume you crush, sprinkle on the terminal, add coke to resolve the rust while solidifying the pill to the terminal while giving it a slight electrolyte boost.

isa671 said:

Problem: Had a co-worker's Speed Triple leak coolant all over the place while on a ride. Turned out it was a hairline crack in the radiator.

MacGyverism: Threw in half a teaspoon of black pepper (restaurant packet) in the radiator.

Outcome: Black pepper worked its way to find the small leak and eventually expanded and filled the leak.

Conclusion: Flushed out the cooling system and replaced the radiator.

Disclaimer: Don't drink the pepper flavored coolant.

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Thats an oldie but a goodie. to others reading it must be black pepper, not white pepper (which is found is chinese resteraunts)

Another stop leak alternative is eggwhites. not sure how well it works but MacGyver did it.

While on a weekend ride, I was awakened by a tapping on the sidewalk outside the room. It was my bud pounding stranded copper wire he had stripped the insulation off of so he could make a solid wire. He fashioned this into an exhaust gasket for his 71 Guzzi. Sealed like factory and off we went.

Many thousands of years ago, a buddy and I were out riding our dinosaurs, lovingly oiling some deserted back roads when his generator stops generating. Soon after, his bike starts running poorly, and we've still got a long way to go to get home, and it's getting dark-thirty.

We scrounge some 16 gauge wire off the side of the road, and wire the two bikes together, so that his bike is getting juice from mine. Now we didn't have that much wire, maybe 6 feet, so we had to ride about 2 feet apart. Side by side, all the way home. There were a couple spastic moments getting going from stop signs and such, but we got a pretty good rythym going after a while.

Many thousands of years ago, a buddy and I were out riding our dinosaurs, lovingly oiling some deserted back roads when his generator stops generating. Soon after, his bike starts running poorly, and we've still got a long way to go to get home, and it's getting dark-thirty.

We scrounge some 16 gauge wire off the side of the road, and wire the two bikes together, so that his bike is getting juice from mine. Now we didn't have that much wire, maybe 6 feet, so we had to ride about 2 feet apart. Side by side, all the way home. There were a couple spastic moments getting going from stop signs and such, but we got a pretty good rythym going after a while.

At any rate, we got home.

Az

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whoa, reminds me of another wacky idea. Riders bike was a no go on the FDR, another rider stopped to help. says no problem I'll push you to the next exit. He said he was an MSF instructor and had done this a few times before....with his right foot on the down bikers left passenger footpeg he slowly picked up speed and pushed the other bike with his, using HIS FOOT. sounded wacky to me too, I wasn't there to witness the craz..err wackyness myself.

Aspirin works pretty well to revive a battery. Crush it and put it in the cells. About 1 per, IIRC. Learned that from my Dad on the farm.

They used to make an additive that prevented batteries from sulfating, but I can't find it anymore. Farm supply store, maybe.

Coke will eat the crud right off a battery terminal. So will baking soda and water. DO NOT get that in the battery. Rinse well. Also good for cleaning the frame around the battery. Neutralizes any battery residue.

Now for the McGuyver tip: Carry several pieces of steel coat hanger. The old, heavy duty kind. You'll know when you need it.

whoa, reminds me of another wacky idea. Riders bike was a no go on the FDR, another rider stopped to help. says no problem I'll push you to the next exit. He said he was an MSF instructor and had done this a few times before....with his right foot on the down bikers left passenger footpeg he slowly picked up speed and pushed the other bike with his, using HIS FOOT. sounded wacky to me too, I wasn't there to witness the craz..err wackyness myself.

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I've seen this done in person, one of the yokle riders cracked his case so we had an epic gravity race all the way down the foothills, when the road flattened out he was pushed with a foot :)

On the battery stuff, if there was an additive to prevent sulphation it would be in the batteries already. The only desulphation chemical i know if is a food additive, the name of which escapes me, but its designed to eat and capture metal. Lead sulphate being a metal, it eats it off the surface of the plate, hopefully uncovering fresh material.